Nudists ogle Drapeau beach

>>

by Kristian Gravenor

Quebecers love to go to nude beaches when travelling but strip to the bone in their own sandy dunes less often. That's what Jean-François Audet has noticed and he figures it's because --unlike Toronto, which has Hanlan's Point, and Vancouver, with its Wreck Beach--Montreal has no official nude beach. The President of the Quebec Federation of Nudism notes that although much of the local nudist community regularly congregates at Oka Beach, in past years the lack of official monitoring or rules has occasionally led to some defying the spirit of the passtime.

"Some people have sex there and we don't want that. To be nude on a beach has nothing to do with sexual activities," says Audet. "And then, when there are complaints, the police put us all in the same basket." Some also offend others by walking off the east end of the beach onto the clothed section. "If it was an official area, it could be supervised, it would be easier to control," he says.

The beach in Oka provincial park has conditionally tolerated the nudists, but Audet wants an officially recognized clothes-free zone. "Any beach would be fine," he says, adding that he'd consider the man-made Olympic regatta basin on Drapeau Island, now commonly known as Plage Doré. That would be a step forward for our governments, he notes, which are ages behind places like Munich, Germany, which has a nudist park downtown, or France, where the government promotes nudism as a tourist activity.